2010 reserve. Best after 11/01/11 but I'm choosing to have it 01/11/11. Who cares?

The wax is pretty but a struggle to get off. The cap congradulates me with the words 'bravely done' printed on the inside.

Served cool into my Watou goblet, the Dissident is a glowing golden red color with just a slight haze. The head is fizzy and settles quickly, no lace.

The aroma is sweet and sour with promisses of sour cherries and brett yeast. A little vanilla comes through too.

The flavor is really nice - a perfectly blended combination of mild Belgian brown ale and a sour cherry lambic. Tart without being puckeringly so and a really nice balance of sweet, sour, tart, and bitter. Probably in that order too. It finishes pretty dry as the alcohol evaporates off the tongue. The only hint of it's strength being in the gentle warming of my chest.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with just enough carbonation to get by. Good balance and almost no evidence of it's high alcohol content.

Not as intense as I expected (or as some may have hoped) but it's a very drinkable 10.5% sour ale. One worth having now and saving away for years to come.

Pours slightly hazy amber with very thin head. Barnyard on the nose, maybe a resemblance to some funky cheese. Big sweet and sour on the palate with cherry qualities but also wild with all those yeast influences. Long sour finish. Again, more cherry.

2010 vintage, poured into my Deschutes snifter. Love the artwork on the bottle.

Pours a gorgeous rusty-copper/reddish-orange with a thin ring of off-white head, a modicum of lacing, and noticeable plumes of carbonation.

The smell is rather faint and requires an unusual amount of olfactory attention, though what I'm able to discern is definitely pleasing. Brett is dominant, with wood, tart cherries, grapes, and berries rounding it out.

The taste follows suit, but is decidedly more powerful. Not as sour as Supplication, nor as sweet as La Folie, The Dissident occupies a realm somewhere in between. The flavors are well-balanced and surprisingly complex, with additions of red wine, port, apples, and spices; finishes dry with hints of bready yeast.

Very carbonated and medium-bodied. Crisp and refreshing.

Because it strikes a balance between the overtly-sour and the atypically-sweet, it is easily drinkable and suitable for either a warm summer's day or a frigid winter's night. A very solid sour, especially for the price, though, for the moment, lacking a bit in complexity. I expect great things from the Dissident with a couple of years on it.

2010 version. Poured into 10oz glass. Poured a clean, clear reddish brown with just a thin ring of khaki head that had no retention or lacing. The aroma was slightly sour with a hint of cherries, or other stone fruit, and just a whisper of grains.

There was a more noticeable taste of fruit and grain on the tongue. There was some sourness, but not as much as I was expecting. The body was far too thin, I want a Bruin to be full-to-heavy. Drinkability was nice, I shared a 22 with a friend and we could have easily drank another.

Overall, a very nice, but not great, brew. If you can grab a bottle go ahead, but don't knock yourself out trying to get one.

Edit 1/19/11: Just tried this on tap and it was a bit more sour than the bottle, but I still found this years version to not be up to level established by the first release.

Dark amber to light copper color with a 3 finger off white head, which has good retention, and leaves some lacing. The aroma has tart cherries, green apple, and Brettanomyces.

The flavor has more sweetness than I expected from the aroma. Tart cherries, green apples, Brettanomyces, vanilla, bread, and caramel are all present in the flavor. The combination of flavors makes for an interesting balance of tartness and sweetness. Very nice.

Medium bodied, creamy, medium carbonation, and finishes dry. The alcohol is extremely well hidden. This is a wonderful and complex beer. I am glad I have one more bottle to age. I recommend this beer highly.

A: nice red hue from the cherries no real headS: Nice fruity smell with sour undertonesT: The taste of this beer is really good. I love this brew and wish it came out every year like Abyss. It is pleasantly sour with a cherry backbone, and really becomes better as it warms up close to room temp. I am really excited for my bottles that are aging.D: I would love this brew. I cannot wait to open a bottle next year.

Appearance - Poured an amber red color, with a moderate head. Ample carbonation with a light lacing forming as the initial head regressed. Crystal clear in appearance.

Smell - As I opened the wax encrusted cap, my nose was caressed with a lively cherry nose. As this offering had wild cherries infused into the process, this was expected. Quite inviting. Some tart brett nose also shines through. A bit of the musty nose as well. Again, expected and well-received for an Oud bruin.

Taste - The brett presents a tart and inviting opening to this beer. The tart is not so acidic as to be off-putting. Nice malty middle with no hop presence (at 30 IBU, I would not expect to find any). Either that, or the tart cherry contribution is masking the hop contribution. The 10.5% ABV makes its presence known as part of the great warming finish. Once I read that a portion of it was aged in pinot and cabernet barrels for over 3 months, the taste made sense. In my opinion, this is wine barrel-aging done correctly.

Mouthfeel - Medium-to-full. The carbonation lasts quite a long time and again the tartness adds to the depth of this offering.

Drinkability - I haven't had the 2008 version of The Dissident, so I can only rate this against other Oud Bruins. Outstanding. I personally enjoyed the depth, yet mellow, contribution the brett provided this presentation. The cherry provide a surprising balance with its sweet contribution. An outstanding beer.

Big thanks to boatshoes for pullin this one in for me. Ive been wanting to try The Dissident for quite some time.

This is the 2010 Reserve. Best after 11/01/11, oops.

A- What a pretty colored beer. The semi-clear ale is the same color as the ink and wax Deschutes uses in the packaging for this beer. I must admit this is one of my favorite labels too. A 1 finger head is very fleeting and is responsible for only a few patches of lace that side back down the glass.

S- A very cherry nose. Sweeter black cherries greet you first with an almost cough syrup smell. There is a very acidic red wine and vinegar smell that comprises most of the body of the bouquet. A sharp funkiness of old wood runs along the deeper parts.

There is a very familiar smell that took me a moment to pinpoint. Its cranberry. Cranberry tartness is quite strong in the aroma.

T- Quite sour and very acidic. As far as I know a strong lactic/milky/vinegary sourness is the major characteristic this style is supposed to have, and in that respect this beer is right on point. Lots of vinegar, cherry, plum skin, cranberry. The finish has a pugnacious chemically taste. Its strange, like fusel alcohol mixed with cranberry and cherry extract. Perhaps drinking this one aged could help erase that bizarre finish.

M- Very dry with a mild carbonation.

D- Now I really wish I had another to age, or that I saw the best after date before I opened it. I think it may calm down a little and that bad finishing taste would fall out.

Appearance: The Dissident pours a very slightly hazy light brownish hue with amber and copper highlights. About a finger and a half of off-white head forms that is very fizzy, retention is not great. I let this one sit a while before trying it, and the lacing actually improved after 10 minutes of sitting due to the amount of carbonation in the beer. So basically, the retention was average at best but the lacing ends up being very nice.

Smell: Sweet and tart cherries right off of the bat, funky, grassy, and earthy. Underneath all of that is a bit of oak. This is a very complex smell.

Taste: Initial taste is a nice blend of sweet and sour cherries. A bit of funk and tartness follows. A hint of oak follows at the end. Really, this beer has a lot of tartness, but not a lot of true sourness. Still, I like it a lot.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability: This beer is medium bodied with quite a bit of carbonation. It drinks pretty smoothly overall, and the tartness hides the alcohol. I'd absolutely recommend this beer to anyone looking to get into sours. Or even to anyone that doesn't like them much. The sweetness of the cherries really offsets the sour.

A: The Dissident appears a light brown hue and very slightly hazy. The beer has an inch of thick head that leaves a fair amount of lacing on the glass.

S: Cherries, funk, oak, earth, malt, sweetness. The aroma is the best aspect of this beer.

T: Wonderfully complex and well done. However, this vintage is noticeable sweeter and less tart than the initial release. The flavor is still tannic and has some pleasant acetic qualities, but this vintage seems to have lost some of the magic I found in the 2008 bottling.

M: Sweet first, followed by some nice vinegary tart notes. I definitely noticed the bump in alcohol percentage.

D: Less drinkable than I remember, though still very good. I definitely recommend The Dissident, especially if you have the opportunity to sample the first release.

Dark golden orange in color with a white head (that was almost gone by the time it was brought to the table). Aroma of cherries, light acid, and a mild "funk" (it's hard to describe). Overall, an unusual, but nice aroma! Flavor of tart cherries and oak. Hops were not really noticeable amongst the other flavors. Light to medium bodied with light carbonation. It had a smooth and creamy mouth feel, which surprised me because I expected a high "pucker" factor. Although it's 11% ABV, the taste of the alcohol was completely masked by the flavors and the sour sensation. Overall, very drinkable.

I'm a newbie to the world of sour beer and I loved The Dissident. I wish I picked up an extra bottle to cellar when I had the chance. I wonder how this will taste after aging for a year or two. Hopefully, we won't have to wait two years for the next release of The Dissident. But if we do, I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

Pours a clear sunburst orange body full of slowly rising bubbles that replenish the one finger of light orange-tinted head. Looks like fall leaves in the Smoky Mountains. Some lacing.

Sweet and sour cherries make up the bulk of the nose, and they smell very nicely integrated and blended. Some nice acid compliments the complex malts and sweet, and all this is bound together by a bit of oak.

Think refinement. This flavor doesn't smack the palate with funk or sourness, but with subtlety and craftsmanship. Sweet, sour, funk and warm soft malts are all in balance, and the result is and Oud Bruin that tastes nearly like a Flanders red. I do not love cherry flavor, but in this beer it is everything that is to like without any medicinal qualities or "cough syrup" overtones. The malts in this beer are noticeable and spot on. The alcohol is nowhere to be found, an achievement for this 10.5% ABV. As this opens up I discover some wine-like flavors that I can't quite put a finger on, but that add to the complexity even more.

Mouthfeel is complex in the same way as the taste. It is both soft and aggressive, creamy and lively. Once again, an achievement. Drinkability is outstanding, truly.

Conclusion: This beer is easy drinking and complex, interesting and subtle. I love it, and I am looking forward to the other 5 bottles that are waiting in my cellar. If this gets more sour and funky as it ages I think it will only get better. This beer is outstanding and is surely one of the best I have ever tasted, and the best part is that it is still young. I look forward to tasting another next year with anticipation. If I had only three beers to drink for the rest of my life, this would be one of them.

A= Dissident pors a nice deep amber color with an impressive two finger thick globular head on it that holds excellent retention and lacing.

S= Smells sour and a little salty in a way. Sort of play doh like smell at first. The cherries come through a little in the nose with some really sort of sweet aroma not the usual sour cherry kick you expect from a sour.

T= The taste is fantastic for a Oud Bruin. A sharp acedic sourness to it with a little lactic sour. The cherries come through in a very sweet mellowing sort of way instead of a big crazy sour fest. There is some wood notes and some tannins to it as well that come through. Puckeringly sour to say the least. I am going to say that when I heard this was a Flanders Oud Bruin with cherries added I figured it would taste a lot like this however so it's a little dissapointment. As it warms the flavors become much less harsh and meld together more.

M= Sharp and dry. Super dry infact.

D= I like this one a lot. It is almost exactly what I expected from it however so it didn't blow me away. I'm extremely happy I got to try it and really wish it I was able to find another bottle to sit down with for a little while but maybe next time. A wonderful beer that is worth seeking out.

From notes. Pint served on-tap at Hill's in Spokane for $6 as Eastern Washington mounted an improbable comeback against North Dakota State and won in overtime, advancing to the 1-AA semifinals. Go Eagles!

Poured a reddish brown that took on an almost raspberryish hue when held up to the light. Very little head, and what there was disappeared fairly quickly, but I didn't expect much given the style and alcoholic potency.

Big nose on this one. Tart cherries, figs, pears, vinegar, a little bit of oakiness and a whiff of farmhouse funk.

Not as sour tasting tasting as I was expecting, though the fruity sweetness I noticed in the scent was pretty well bulldozed as well. While there are some sour elements, the most overriding flavor characteristic was a pucker-inducing tartness. Vinegar flavors were present, but with a low enough intensity that they melded well with the tart, fruit flavors. No hop flavor to speak of, probably the first time I've ever found that to be the case when drinking a beer from Deschutes.

Medium bodied, with a prickly yet coating mouthfeel.

Definitely not a session beer, but very pleasing on a stand-alone basis. This would probably make a good counterpoint to an overly sweet dessert. If you dig tart, Belgian-style beers, this is a good choice.

Taste: Strong cherry, with a biting tartness. More biting than truly sour. There is both an underlying caramel sweetness and an underlying peppery dryness, which complement one another nicely. Strong oak finish.

Overall: I used to think this had too much cherry. After more experience with sours and cherry flavors, I can emphatically state that this is an exceptional beer. Not the epitome of the style, but the barrel aging is great.

t - Taste follows the nose, but not as sweet. Some sour and tart cherries, funk, and no real oak.

m - Medium body and low carbonation. Pretty smooth, I liked the body.

d - I thought this was a really good flanders. Some people thought the first batch was more sour and had mroe oak; I've never had that batch but still really enjoyed this one. Would like to get a bottle of this to compare.

Beer is light brown and mostly clear with a head of large and small bubbles, mild carbonation and minimal lacing.

Aroma is mildly acetic with a bite to it. Good malt notes in there as well.

Beer is medium to light in body and sweeter than I expected. The lead off character is strongly malty and pretty sweet, this immediately gives way to a strong funky sourness, mostly lactic with an acetic and mildly citric brightness to it. The finish is clean and mildly tart in the corners of my mouth. A very good bruin.

On tap at Pracna on the Main, as part of their Deschutes December event. Served in a Deschutes snifter. I could try this beer only because of the generosity of the manager Meagen (chixdighops) and her boyfriend, and some luck. Thanks guys for letting me have the last drink of the sixtel!